West Boca grad scholarship settles Cornell suit

Cornell University has agreed to set up a perpetual scholarship in memory of a West Boca High School graduate in a last-minute settlement of a 2010 federal lawsuit brought by his father.

The terms of the settlement were reached before a Sept. 29 trial date and put to rest who was culpable for the suicide of Bradley Marc Ginsburg, a student whose body was found at the bottom of a gorge at the Ithaca, N.Y. school on Feb. 17, 2010.

Howard Ginsburg alleged in the suit that 27 previous suicides were ignored, and that Cornell and the city of Ithaca were negligent in failing to provide safety at the sites. He filed a lawsuit against Cornell, his own alma mater, and the city seeking $168,000 in damages. "It was never about the money," Ginsburg said. "This whole case was undertaken with Bradley's values."

The terms of the settlement include the Brad Ginsburg '13 Memorial Scholarship, resuming a dining hall award where Brad worked and three plaques in his memory at Cornell. Ginsburg said the scholarship recipient will be from Palm Beach, Broward or Miami-Dade counties and he'll have some say in the plaque design and placement.

The settlement criteria include character traits Ginsburg said his son stood for: honor, integrity, intelligence, academic excellence, hard work and exceptional community service. Although he applauded the settlement and tributes to his son, "there's never closure for the family," Ginsburg said.

Shortly after his death, a plaque with a poem was hung in Bradley Ginsburg's' memory in a tearful ceremony attended by teachers, friends and family in the lobby of West Boca High School.

"This suit was about mental health. Bradley was a straight A student and his nickname was 'Smiles,'" Ginsburg said, adding his son had no history of emotional problems. The suit alleged the suicides were impulsive acts that could have been prevented. "Depression is rampant in college," he said.

Cornell verified in a Sept. 12 statement that the lawsuit has been settled to all parties' satisfaction, according to U.S. District Judge David Hurd. The judge would have heard the case in Utica, N.Y., since it was a federal lawsuit.

"Terms of the scholarship will be announced at a later date. This settlement does not call for the payment of any money to Mr. Ginsburg or the university," the university statement said.

"Bradley's death was, and remains a tragedy," Cornell vice president for university relations Joel Malina said in the statement. "We are grateful we were able to resolve this matter to everyone's satisfaction and look forward to being able to honor Bradley's memory with a scholarship in his name."

An editorial in the Cornell Daily Sun on the settlement said Ginsburg's death "was part of a string of student suicides that led to fences on bridges and intensified mental health programs on campus."

The university is working on installing nets under six of the seven bridges on or near campus and the seventh, over the Fall Creek Gorge where Bradley Ginsburg took his life, will be encased in protective netting, according to the newspaper.